All New Wolverine Broods Over a Newly Transformed Brood! (All New Wolverine #23 Comic Review)

Gabby has been taken by the Brood and Laura doesn’t let it slide easily, she’ll do whatever she can to save her lil’ sister/clone! Plus, the origin of the virus has been revealed!!

Previously: All New Wolverine, Gabby, Jonathan & the Guardians of the Freakin’ Galaxy arrives on another Planet’s Moon, the source of infected disease that had been terrorizing Roosevelt Island back in Earth from the previous arc. There they find a research facility ready to defend their base of operations from a swarm of Aliens, the Brood. During the attack Gabby was taken away from the team which leaves Laura trying to come after her but was unable to due to Drax trying to stop her from killing herself.

What You’ll Find Out: Both parties (Broods and our Heroes) retreats from their unlikely face-off. Drax was holding off Laura from trying to go off after the Brood to save Gabby. Laura does not like what Drax is doing despite his good intentions and harms him for an attempt to escape from his grasps. Drax on the other hand decides to toss her over the research facility, with of course the scientist trying to stop them since they were afraid of getting infected by the virus again. Star-Lord informs the scientist that they no longer need to be afraid and to stop attacking them as they have already discovered a cure for the virus. This was when Wolverine had an unlikely reunion between Shi’ar Imperial Guard’s Fang. Fang explains the situation to both our Heroes and the scientist in the research facility. He tells Wolverine that he has been helping the scientist fight of the Brood and at the same time create a virus they thought might have defeated the Brood but instead backfires infecting some of the aliens within the facility, adding the fact that their communication system were also destroyed which resulted as a hindrance for them asking help from neighbouring planets. He explains that the Brood becomes carriers of the virus and that those who were infected by the virus on their side were quarantined and were supposedly sent off to space with different objectives and missions to ask for help. The Brood attacked the quarantined aliens and only one was able to escape and survive the suicide mission, which was the little girl who landed on Earth looking for Laura. It was also revealed that the little girl was the daughter of one of the scientists. Now that Laura and the Guardians of the Galaxy were able to bring the cure based from Laura’s healing factor, she tells them that she must save Gabby from the clutches of the Brood. Everyone assumed that it is already a lost cost and that Gabby must be dead by now. Laura tells them that the Brood does not do that to their victims and in fact keeps their victims alive. Meanwhile Gabby wakes up inside the Brood’s hive and talks to the Brood leader, warning them that Laura is already on her way to save her. The Brood leader is already aware of that by looking into Gabby’s mind and with the approval from their Brood empress, decides to transform Gabby to a Brood Queen. Back at the research facility, Wolverine sets up a rescue team to save Gabby from the Brood. Drax decides to stay behind with Rocket which surprises Fang, Star Lord and Gamora decides to join Wolverine. Once they arrived at the Hive, Laura tells both Peter and Gamora to avoid as much noise to avoid the Brood’s hived mind to detect their rescue mission and so far manages to enter quietly (with of course some stealthy attack and killing off a few Broods). When they finally arrive and find Gabby, they were already too late. Gabby is already in the process of transforming into a new Broodling, worse was the fact that she kills off the Brood leader and what looks like is about to attack Wolverine and the rescue team.

What just happened: Despite Tom Taylor’s skills to write story consistently, this issue seems to feel like it’s about to drag a bit now that it doesn’t really offer much and could have been done or executed a bit better. Yes, there were a few surprises like Fang’s return and Gabby transforming into a Brood, but other than that it wasn’t that big of a surprise to keep me that interested. I find it really weird why the infected Aliens had to risk their lives to get on a ship and go to different planets to find a cure. What I find funnier is the fact the scientist decided to send off the infected to find a cure and the same time infect the planet they arrive on. Wow! They must have been lucky that the lone infected survivor they sent off landed on Earth and somewhere really near Wolverine then. Anyways, this issue doesn’t offer much aside from giving us the origin of the virus. The Kirk’s art seems consistent, however a lil’ rushed works were noticeable on some pages. I’ve also noticed that it looks like he is starting to experiment with his style, noticing some scratchy influences that reminded me of Leinil Francis Yu’s style.

Pros:

Art is still consistent despite some looking a bit rushed.

Gabby’s trust towards Laura saving her displays their bond as sisters and feels really good and natural based from what they have gone through.

Cons:

Nothing surprising or new to offer

The story is starting to drag in my opinion

For highly and advance technological research facility with a diverse group of Scientist & researchers they sure are a bit dumb for deciding to let the infected aliens go around the universe to search for a cure. If Fang already knew Wolverine’s healing factor might be the cure, why not have him or someone who would have not caused a large population in earth get infected look for her instead? What if Wolverine and S.H.I.E.L.D decided not to look for the planet (which I know is still unlikely but hey what if right?), or what if the Alien girl did not land on earth or was killed before she arrived earth does that mean it’s the end for those researchers? But hey, it’s just my personal opinion.

Final Thought: Still a fun book but I consider it one of the weakest issue coming from a very consistent and entertaining series and writer. I am hoping Taylor does not drag his future stories after this chapter/arc ends.

I was first exposed to the world of super-heroes when I saw an episode of X-Men animated series as a kid back in 1992. Ever since then I had been collecting the X-Men trading cards that were free from buying powdered milk (which was their promo back then) and a lot of hand me down Marvel cards from my eldest brother. Back when I was on 2nd grade in 1996, a classmate of mine shared a drawing made by his older brother. It featured junior X-Men character, Jubilee joining another group besides X-Men which caught my attention and curiosity (since I never saw that group in the animated series.) That was when I discovered one of my favorite X-Books, Generation X. The first comic I ever bought then was Wolverine Vol 2 #94 which featured Generation X. At the same time I was already exposed to Spider-Man and Fantastic 4, thanks to their 90s animated series adaptations. I have been following & collecting those 3 Marvel comics series ever since. I stopped reading and collecting for a while around 2000 - 2008 because the local comic book shop (which was the only one back then) closed down in my province. Also those were the time I was exposed more into Japanese anime, mangas and video games, specifically the Mega Man series (Thanks to the influence of Marvel vs Capcom games), Final Fantasy and Guilty Gear. However I would still try to keep up with the latest updates of the Marvel Universe thanks to the internet and new movie adaptations and animated series during that decade. I came back reading the X-books again in 2009 when my family and I went for a vacation in Toronto, Canada. I dropped by every comic store and book store I pass by, grabbing X-Men books along the way, starting off with the X-Men First Class. Ever since then I have been following the ups and downs of the X-books and the rest of the Marvel Universe. That's not all, I also enjoy reading DC books too specifically Legion of Super Heroes, Teen Titans, Neil Gaiman's Sandman and a few Bat Man books!